The regular season debut for Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer will immediately come under the spotlight of a Thursday night opener.

With the full NFL schedule release coming on Wednesday, we got news that the Philadelphia Eagles will host NFC East rivals the Dallas Cowboys in the 2025 NFL season opener on Thursday 4 September.

ANSWER THE CALL

I love it. To be honest with you, it will mark the first time the two teams have faced off in the opening game of a campaign since 2000.

Since 2004, some 20 defending Super Bowl champions have played in the season opener and have gone 15-5 in those games, including the Chiefs’ 27-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens in 2024.

Sink or swim boys, you finally made the trade that this offense needed, and all eyes will be on you. New head coach, the champs raising their banner in front of your face, don’t let them enjoy it, you want to stop being talked about in a negative way? All eyes will be on you.

Sometimes, the Cowboys are a big enough ratings draw to avoid games like the NFL Kickoff, but there is a lot of intrigue from top to bottom in the NFC East this season.

Obviously our collective hope is that the Cowboys ruin the party and start the season off 1-0. Spoiling the night would be quite fun. And for what it’s worth, thankfully the Cowboys don’t have to visit Philadelphia later in the year.

The Cowboys are familiar with this spot as they have played in it a couple of times before. You will recall that recently in 2021 the Cowboys went down to visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and almost stole a win before falling just short in the end. That was a little bit tough to sit on for a week and a half.

But the feeling we hope to have in four months time did circle us all back in the fall of 2012. You will recall that when the New York Giants were defending Super Bowl Champions for the second time in modern history, like the Eagles are now, that Dallas was ordered to head to their house and sit on a silver platter. Tony Romo and Kevin Ogletree refused as Dallas ruined the evening for Giants fans.

While the Cowboys have played in the kickoff slot on two occasions, the Eagles have only done so once, when they were defending champs back in 2018. They won that game and beat the Atlanta Falcons who they took down in the Divisional Round on their way to the Super Bowl.

According to the betting market, the third place finisher a year ago in the NFC East hasn’t done enough to be less than a touchdown underdog against the defending Super Bowl champions.

After being more active in free agency than they have in years, and also getting top reviews for their 2025 draft class, fans may have expected the league to put some respect on their name. However with a new head coach who wasn’t coveted by any other organization taking the reigns, there is still an overwhelming sense of “prove it” among prognosticators. So as the 2025 NFL schedule details begin to leak out, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the team isn’t favored in their now-revealed Thursday kickoff against the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. It’s the size of the spread that is a bit disheartening.

Opening Point Spread: Eagles -7

The Eagles are home favorites, and by a fair margin. Many people feel that home-field advantage is an automatic three points before a spread is adjusted for the quality of the team. That isn’t always the case. Based on historical trends, some team’s home-field advantage is adjusted up or down.

Cowboys Money Line is currently set for +235

The Money Line is a simple win-or-lose bet. If someone thinks one team will win, but they don’t want to give or take any points, they bet on them “straight up.”

If someone bets on a favorite the ML will be negative, an underdog, positive. All bets are spoken of in terms of wagering an even $100.

Both the Cowboys and Eagles’ first-round picks are on this list, making their debut before any other 2025 rookies.

Rank 4

Tyler Booker Alabama · OG

Dallas Cowboys 2024 record: 7-10

DRAFTED: Round 1, No. 12 overall

The Cowboys have a history of finding elite offensive linemen in the draft, including eight-time Pro Bowler Tyron Smith (2011), nine-time Pro Bowler Zack Martin (2014) and two-time Pro Bowler Tyler Smith (2022). Now they have added a pro-ready guard in Booker. He’s a tough, nasty and technical building block for Dallas’ front. The Cowboys offense is at its best when the big boys in the trenches are controlling the line of scrimmage. Booker can help it return to being a prolific unit in the run and pass games.

Rank 8

Jihaad Campbell Alabama · LB

Philadelphia Eagles 2024 record: 14-3

DRAFTED: Round 1, No. 31 overall

Campbell was the biggest steal of the draft. A top 10-caliber talent, he was still available late in the first round after undergoing shoulder injury in the spring. The Alabama product joins an already dynamic Eagles defense that just stomped the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and he’ll have a chance start immediately in place of Nakobe Dean, who sustained a knee injury in mid-January. Starring as an off-ball linebacker and pass rusher in his final season with the Crimson Tide, Campbell is a player that defensive coordinator Vic Fangio can utilize in multiple roles, much like Fangio did with Zack Baun last season. Campbell won’t face the pressure of having to be the guy with so many talented players around him. Fangio has a history of working with dynamic linebackers (SEE: Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman), and Campbell, who has greater upside than even Baun, is the newest member of the club.

This entire Cowboys offseason has been built around getting the most out of Dak Prescott again, but some analysts see his value elsewhere.

On the same Monday, we learned the Cowboys are playing in the league’s Kickoff game versus the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and hours later, we’re discussing how tradeable is Dak Prescott. These are supposed to be the slow days of May but believe it or not, it’s a year-round line of work.

The discussion emerged from a genius question from a listener of The Athletic Football Show and a thought-provoking answer from host Robert Mays. I want to be very clear, though: This wasn’t Mays formulating a hot Prescott take and firing it out but rather an answer on a highly hypothetical question.

In short the question was, if the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs wouldn’t entertain trade offers for Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes (not even for ten future first-round picks), who is the best quarterback whose team would consider trading for the right price, as high as that could be.

Mays’ answer focused on ruling out the unquestioned elite quarterbacks of the NFL (including Mahomes, Allen, Joe Burrow) and the “really, really valuable young guys” like Jayden Daniels and C.J. Stroud.

“Let’s just say you can get under (the financials), the Cowboys would trade Dak for the right price,” Mays said on the latest episode of the podcast. “The Dak, Kyler (Murray) range is probably where I land, I think it’s the right answer.”

Obviously, it’s more of a “food for thought” type of question than it is a realistic one. The Cowboys aren’t moving on from Prescott any time soon and his contract would seriously complicate any deal from happening in the first place.

“If you called the Cowboys right now, again, if they traded him after June 1, in theory it would be possible,” Mays added. “If you called the Cowboys right now like ‘we’ll five you three (first-round picks) for Dak, I think they would do it.”